Mars Mission: Revenge of the Aliens
by Fastpaw
Summary: The Astros think they have beaten the aliens after destroying their hive.. but unfortunatly maybe unfortunatly , they are wrong. But it seems there is more to the war on mars than anyone realized before...
1. Chapter 1

_I_

_I am broken. I am shattered. They have distroyed me, without the smallest of personal harm._

_My hive, gone forever. I am alone. I am a loose body in the cosmos, without true purpose._

_They say it takes the intelligence of a commander to fly this craft. I wonder why then, I am able, me, a low drone, the original weapons master of this craft, has the capability to fly it. Another mystery of this strange planet I may never find out._

_But then there is the matter of _them.

_They are everywhere it seems, ever since the destruction of the hive, _my _hive. They have gained an immersurable confidence. I will show them the terrible conciquences such reckless confidence can bring. I will show them what a terrible wrath the last alien on mars can bring._

_I will show them._

Miner was just about maxing the speed on the mining rig. He had done, it, broken his own record (which was also the record for all the other miners) for how many crystals he had mined in one day. The truth was, nobody really knew who had mined the most crystals; Miner was the only one anal enough to count. He took a higher pride in his work than most people could ever dream of, thus he acquired the name 'Miner' despite the fact they were almost all miners.

So he wanted to spread the news, he had broken the 'record' (again).

Perhaps it was because he liked the celebration that he felt the need to do this, or maybe his personal pride. Possibly even, it was what was what was eaten as a celebratory gesture. Moon pies. Astro pilot never liked them, and once joked, since mars doesn't have a real moon, they should dunk them in hot sauce and call them Mars pies. Miner did not like this idea.

Others joked over am modified version of the old moon pie and rc cola phrase "A miners lunch- on earth and mars.". Miner noted he had never drank rc cola his whole life.

But no celebration could possibly be bigger than the one they had after the destruction of the alien hive. Since then, nobody had seen anything of the aliens; a welcome relief after the stressfull life before. All they had now were the natural perils of Mars... things most people would cower to, but seemed nothing in comparison with the alien threat. Like the dust storms that passed through here on a near daily bases. Things that would often crush the miners after a long day fending off the aliens. They were bearable now that the aliens were gone. At last.

The celebration went on for three days straight, and there was much rejoicing, and lots of sleeping; too, most of the team was exaughsted after the combination of the battle and the long months before it.

For those who were awake though, they saw some strange kinds of celebration.

For one example, one of the miners had managed to smuggle a bottle of whiskey to mars, and hadn't touched since arrival. One of the miners got drunk, and tried to microwave and energy crystal. As you could imagine, that didn't turn out well. Mission Commander confiscated and destroyed the whiskey, despite the fact there was now only a mouthfull remaining. He wondered how he was going to explain this to the folks back home on earth.

And in the celebration, the astro pilot resserected his UHF tv antenna that the aliens had gotten in the habit of blowing up as target practice. The claw-tank driver watched some alien shoot-em-up movie on tv; the others wondered why, after all the months he had spent shooting aliens.

So, miner drove. He drove and drove, across the seemingly endless red of the martian terrain. He drove, in the direction of Eagle Command Base. Suddenly, his engine died, right then and there.

Miner groaned, fearing that the power crystal powering the miner had died, and he would have to take a crystal out of his precious record to replace it.

He got out of the cockpit, the clear fiberglass door to the cockpit weezing as it opened, clogged with martian dust. Miner walked toward the crystal holder. The crystal had indeed died.

He went back to crystal storage unit, and pulled out a crystal, and replacing the one that had died. He tossed the dead crystal on the ground, and walked back toward the cockpit. He got in, and the door weezed shut, and though pleading with him to clean it.

He started the miner back up and continued his long drive back to base. He looked out at the distant mountains. He saw a small black spec, moving across the horizen.

A small flying black spec?

He slammed the brakes on in horror, and pulled out some binoculers, forcing the neglected cockpit to again open so he could step out. His heart raced as he zoomed in on the target with his binoculers. Could they really be back, after all this time?

He zoomed closer, and the black dot raced closer into his vision, he could make out the green striped. His heart dropped as the lens showed what was now in clear view.

An alien infiltrator craft, hovering a few feet above the ground, far in the distance.

He despite the fact it was only a few feet away, he ran back to the the miner, hopped in, and overclocked the engine back to base. So what if it overheated? There was very important news that needed to get around now.

Eagle Command began to come into view, it came closer. He was sure he would make it. His panic surfaced stronger than before as he began to smell smoke. Were the aliens shooting at him? He didn't feel the impact of the blasts. Then, his engine died again, and the mining vehicle rolled to a stop. Smoke poured into the cockpit.

He pushed the button to open the cockpit. It didn't do anything, not even weeze in disgust. He kicked at it as hard as could, adreniline fueling every blow that connected to the fiberglass shell. Nothing, not even a crack. What would he do now? He looked behind his seat and pulled out a crowbar. That should do it. He turned the other way to keep shards from flying in his eyes as the iron cylinder connected with the fiberglass shell. Cracks spiderwebbed all over, and it exploded brilliantly into thousand of shards. Miner braced for impacted and screamed in agony as some of the shard imbedded themselves deep within his skin, blood pouring out.

He ran, the shards biting at his wounds as he ran for command. He looked back, he was right, the infiltrator had spotted him, it was cruising toward him from its former spot on the horizen, veering softly againts a small mound of rocks, its organic engine humming as it grew closer.

So Miner ran.

He ran, and ran and ran. Despite the fact the infiltrator could outrun him in a second, for some reason, it wasn't. Why. Why wasn't it, when it had his life within its grasp. So many questions, none of which could be answered.

And then he was there, gasping and panting, he raced into their quarters in Eagle Command the infiltrator hovering in the air about fifty feet away, and gapsed, "They're back!!!".

The astros only turned their heads toward him, and asked calmly, "Who?", a little puzzled.

"The aliens!!! Who else!? There is one right outside!".

Mission Commander got up and walked outside, just to be met with the site of the infiltrator, just hovering there.  
"Wake up Joe, we need him up pronto.", Mission Commander said into his radio. "Ok.", crackeled a voice from the other side.

They looked back to the infiltrator. It still hadn't budged. The alien was watching them unwaiveringly from the cockpit.  
"How many are there total?", Mission Commander asked.

"This is the only one I've seen.", Miner responded.

Suddenly, the infiltrator excellerated, headed right for Eagle Command. They lept out of the way.

"RUN!!!", yowled Miner.

The infiltrator crashed into Eagle Command at full speed; ripping it apart in a firey infirno. Everything came down. The fire raged. Lines of red sparking into the sky, debris flying everywhere. There was no sign of the infiltrator that had caused the destruction inamogst the chaos. A tower collaped down, ashes flying everywhere.

Miner dashed away from the building that he had raced toward so quickly and happily earlier, Mission Commander right behind him. There was no hope for anyone who was inside there, it was a death trap. They were all dead, poor Joe, the claw-tank driver, killed in his sleep, the astro pilot, the gunner, everyone.

Dead. Gone. Lost. Killed by their enemy.

So Miner ran. Just like before. He ran and ran. Away from the death. Away from the sad memory. Away from the infiltrator and the fatalities it had caused.

_They will feel pain._


	2. Chapter 2

_I_

_I am burning. My limbs, being torn apart by the tongues of disaster. But it is more a disaster to them than to me, and that gives me great pride, it gives me great stregnth._

_I lay here, buried in iron, seared by flames, with more joy than I have even known. I have done what thousands of my kind had failed to do, stop these plagerous creatures from contining there 'mining expidition' to this volitile planet._

_I lay here, knowing I have completed my purpose. I have given my life for a cause. I have destroyed the heart of those who would destroy my hive, our sanctuary. Us all. The thousands. They believe it was us that started this war, our anger our 'primative aggrassion'. Our nature. Our 'evil' 'conquering' nature._

_They think they are coming here for a good cause. They think they have come here to solve their energy crisis. They think they have come here for these crystals to liberate their people._

_Why do they believe these crystals are their saviors? They have torn apart their own planet with their greed, and now they want to expand their realm. Going to this red planet with their destructive machines, mining energy crystals and sending them back to their homeworld._

_But then what?  
Not even the crystals are in infinte supply. Their hunger for power, both for electrical power and controlling power, will bring them to a new crisis. They will suck in more and more, and will expand their reach, destroying countless worlds in search of energy._

_We began by peacefully telling them to leave. We did not ask for this war._

_And then there is the matter of their internal wars. They are the angry race, not we. Not I, now. They cannot even be a coordinate themselves as an effective race._

_And that brings us back to power again._

_As I think these last thoughts, I feel great pride. I feel great pride. We feel great pride. The spirits of all those who have died before me, each one of them a seperate being, killed mercilicelly by the humans._

_We feel warm inside._

_I feel warm as well, as the flames cause my skin to melt and burn, bubbling crazilly._

_This is the end for me, but I fear some terrible things are just getting started._

Miner collapsed on a rock several hours later. It was beyond his own personal belief that he was able to run so long and so far. Mission Commander slowed to a stop behind him.

"It's a good things most of the people have been working over and Alpha command at Olympus, or we would have lost everyone in there.", he said.

Miner mumbled something.

Mission Commander reached for his radio, punched something in and called, "Mission Commander to Alpha Command."

"Yeah, we're here.", came the casual response, "We picked up a large shockwave of energy coming from your direction. What happened down there.".

"Eagle Command is... destroyed.", Mission Commander said sadly, "We have three casualties. Only Miner and I made it out of there alive.".

There was a moment of silence.

"Have you seen any aliens exiting or entering the remains of the hive lately?", the commander asked.

"The only thing that has gone in or out of the hive lately has been us. We have been keeping a ridiculously good eye on it. Really, the its just a big crater now. Whatever was left after the battle is now destroyed; we've been letting the trainees use it for target practice."

Mission Commander looked at the ground. Apparently they weren't going to be any help with this matter.

"Maybe this was the last alien on mars.", Miner offered.

"We need to be picked up. Miner and I are lost in the middle of the martian desert.", the commander said.

"What's you location?", crackeled the voice.

"I said we're _lost_.", the commander restated.

"Oh... ok.", the voice said dimly, "We'll have to pinpoint your location using your radio signal. We'll be over to pick you up in a little while. Alpha out.".

The radio cracked as the transmission ended.

Miner and Mission commander looked at each other, then Miner sat down on the rock, gazing around, keeping a sharp eye out for other aliens. The last thing they needed right now was to be attacked.

Alpha's 'little while' seemed to drag out longer and longer as the sun passed over them, with an occasional wind sweeped by. Neither of them said a word to each other, each caught up in their own thoughts, their own memories.

Then, their rescuers arrived. The crystal reaper camed barreling over the rocky terrain from the horizen untill it finnaly reached them.  
An astronaut walked out of the onboard lab and walked toward them. They followed him into the lab. Just in time to; a sandstorm was beginning to whip up around them.

As the crystal reaper headed toward Alpha base, the crystal reaper bumped up and down like a roller coaster ride, with the sound of the wind whipping againts the sides of the vehicle. Then, the crystal reaper shuddered to a stop.

They could here some grumbling and obcenities coming from the cockpit.

The door opened into the lab, and the driver came lumbering out.

"We're stuck.", he groaned. "We're going to have to wait untill after the sandstorm and dig our way out.".

Nothing else was said for about a mintute, when the driver began speaking again.

"So, rumor has it you were attacked by aliens, and the old Eagle got blown up. Is that true?"

Mission Commander nodded his head sadly.

"So, we're stuck fighting aliens again?"  
"Nobody knows.", Mission Commander replied, "It's possible that it was the last alien on mars."

"That was my idea.", Miner piped in.

"That was Miner's idea.", Mission Commander added.

Miner pulled walked to the fridge and pulled out some odd energy bar, and began chewing on it as the others began to talk.

"Did you see what kind of alien it was?", one of the astro scientists asked.

"What kind?", Miner asked curiously, as he pulled the bar out of his mouth.

"You know, a drone or a commander, and what it was flying, a striker or and infiltrator.".

"It was a drone flying an infiltrator.", Miner said.

The scientists turned to each other. "Well.. that's not possible.", one of the scientists stated.

"Why's that?"  
"Because drones aren''t smart enough to pilot infiltrators. It must have been a commander."

"I know the difference between a drone and a commander!", Miner said, irritated and insulted that they would thing he couldn't tell the difference between a drone and a big hulking commander, especially at the snail resembling speed the infiltrator was going at.

"I'm just saying, you must have made a mistake.". Miner started shaking.

"I saw it too. It was a drone.", Mission Commander added.

"Um... well." The scientist didn't have the nerve to tell Mission Commander he was wrong.

Despite his toughness, Miner looked like he was about to start crying.

Nobody said a word.

Silence filled the air, except for the whisteling of the sandstorm outside. It was almost a solid day before the storm passed, and they all went out to dig the crystal reaper out of the sand. It was nearly completely buried.

Mission Commander's radio crackeled. "We've... got... bad... news.", the voice choked out.

"What is it?", Mission Commander asked.

"Looks like five alien motherships just entered the upper atmosphere.", said the voice, with a hint of panic.

"Five?!", Mission Commander said in frightened disbelief.

"We've detected five.", the voice confirmed.

After all the damage only one had caused before... creating the hive, how could they possibly stand againts five!? To make matters worse, they were weakened. They didn't have a hope.

"Hurry, people.", Mission Commander said. "We've got big trouble."

Without a word, the team began shoveling away at the sand around the crystal reaper, knowing it was in vain, but they at least had to try.

_Here I burn. Here I die. Here I hold hope for the future._


	3. Chapter 3

_I _

_I lie here, the fires out above me, with my body broken, debris around me._

_I was shattered, now I am broked._

_Is this death? Another mystery of the cosmos. When you are dead, are you trapped in your body, helpless to your fate?_

_Burnt steal lay scattered around me. I often wonder about the human's ideas about heaven and hell, their philosophies about death and the afterlife._

_One idea that paticularly intrigued me was what the ancient egyptians though about death._

_They thought that the deeds of you soul were weighed againts a feather, if your heart weighed more than the feather, your soul was devoured, if it was lighted, you had a long and happy afterlife._

_The afterlife. _

_My afterlife is right here, even though the fires of my good deeds haven't killed me yet, their intrapments might._

_But what about when I face the feather? Will it be the feather of peace, or will it be feather for the good of my deeds. Will I be devoured by fate, of freed to glory?_

_Concerning the beast, the devourer..._

_Could that be a metaphor for something more? Having you soul devoured by some dog-headed man? Could it be in fact, that you had commited so many terrible deeds because your soul have been eaten away slowly by greed long before you had to face the piercing eyes of fate?_

The team freed the crystal reaper at near super-human speed, and they were off into the martian desert in no time at all, headed for Alpha base, all prepared for a tremendous battle thay all knew they couldn't win. They knew they were going to die.

Alpha base was really just a collection of vehicles on mount Olympus. The armored drilling unit, the crystal reaper, the recon dropship, the crystal hawk, the ultra drill walker, several other vehicles, an assortment of small mining vehicles, and the awe inspiring mx-81 hypersonic spacecraft. Miner gaped at the power of the ultra drill walker.

There was no time to lose- however, Mission Commander held a strategetic meeting with Alpha Commander while the others got some rest.

Miner fell asleep quickly on a couch in Alpha Command's only shelter- a defense station. Some of the other astros sat down in the chairs and caught some Zs.

Miner got shaken awake by Mission Commander.

"It is time to go. Four of the motherships have began to build hives, but one has split off from the rest and is heading out direction. We have to be ready."

Miner and the others raced out. Miner was asigned to the ultra drill walker, apparently it had some cool defensive features as well, as he was shown by alpha commander. Mission Commander went in the hypersonic spacecraft, and alpha commander commanded the armored drilling unit.

Miner sat there, patiently awaiting orders.

"Ok, is everyone ready?", asked Mission Commander from the hypersonic spacecraft.

"Miner ready.", Miner said.

"Alpha ready. Recon ready. C-Hawk ready. D-Station ready. Switch-Fighter ready. Trike ready."

"Ok, let's go."

The ground shook as all the vehicles started and took off. It made Miner nautious the way the ultra drill walked vibrated up and down as it 'walked', but his awe at the power of the machine overshadowed his nausia.

Then it came, the mothership, followed by an onslaught of other alien craft that the aliens had already built since their recent re-arrival on the red planet. Then the shooting started.

Green blasts erupted from the alien's organic weaponry toward the astronaut ships. The switch-fighter got shot down first, with five or six alien strikers on its tail. It crashed into the ground in an enflamed spiral.

The hypersonic spacecraft retaliated. The left and right wing cruiser seperated from the main body of the spacecraft and engaged the strikers in a spectacular arial dogfight, resulting in two of the strikers quickly shot down. The mothership joined the other aliens in their attempt at bashing the hypersonic spacecraft.

The armored drilling unit shot up and energy sphere that knocked another striker out of the air.

A second wave of alien ships, dragon cruisers, flew in, banging up the armored drilling unit very well.

Then Miner's own personal problem set on, a wave of probably fifty mosquito-like aliens with jetpacks.

He had no idea where the weapons were in the chaos, he had only been given a one-minute long tour of the controls. The aliens landed all over the ultra drill walker and began taking it apart from the outside.

He grabbed laser blaster from the console, opened up the cockpit, and began manually shooting the aliens down off the legs of the ultra drill walker. One of the aliens flew up and grabbed him, picking him up high above the ground. He flailed with his arms and legs. He was far above the ground, he could see the battle below him, only air between him and the ground. He knew what it was like to fly now, although he doubted flying was normally this stresfull.

Then the alien dropped him.

He spiralled through the air, the red martian ground racing toward him. He saw his life flashing through his eyes, mashed up with flashes of the battle around him. He hit the ground, and all was black.

Mission Commander sat it the main cockpit of the hypersonic spacecraft, trying to stop the barrage of strikers. They were losing. Badly. There was a crash. He had one of the outside cameras turn. He saw on the viewscreen that the ultra drill walker had fallen over. Great.

Alpha commanders voice crackeled onto the radio. "It appears that another one of the motherships has broken off from the group.".

"Oh no. It isn't coming here, is it?", he asked.

"No, it appears to be headed toward the ruins of Eagle Command."

A million thoughts raced through Mission Commander's mind. That could almost be as bad as it joining the battle here. If any of the data in the computers has survived the explosion and the fire, the aliens could use it againts them, and crush them.

Everything was in there, blueprints, details on the crew, battle plans, logs, everything. If that were to fall into the alien's hands...

"We need to intercept it.", said Mission Commander.

"We're already losing the battle here... we can't spare anyone."

"We'll all be dead if the aliens find anything in there. We have to. I'll go.", affirmed Mission Commander. Before anyone could protest, the main craft of the hypersonic spacecraft zipped away from the battle on a course for the ruins of Eagle Command.

Mission Commander brought up a lcd radar tracking screen. The mothership had almost reached the base. He knew he probably couldn't stop the mothership, but he could finish the job by totally annihilating Eagle Command.

He found it kind of ironic... he had spent two years risking his life protecting it, and now he himself would be firing the shots that finished it off.

At Eagle Command, the alien lied there, with both despair and hope for the future.

Then came the humming.

The mothership was coming, its engines humming loudly.

_What is happening? Have my kin returned?_


	4. Chapter 4

_I_

_I am here, I am buried._

_But yet again I am whole._

_I here the distinctive noise. They are coming._

_Do they know I am here? Or are they simply coming to see what happened._

_No matter, they will detect me. They will pick me up._

_Or will they?  
Are they so pressed for time that they would leave me here, the one responsible for the near defeat of their enemy, my enemy, our enemy?_

_Wait... I am rising._

_They have found me._

_I am whole._

Mission Commander pushed the main body of the hypersonic spacecraft as fast as it could go, racing toward the ruins. Then; he was there. But he was also too late. The mothership had already reached the ruins, and was beaming up a lot of stuff... crystals... computer systems... a bottle of something... and... an alien?  
Could it have been the one who crashed into Eagle Command in the first place?

Mission Commander began to circle around the base, holding his ground againts the aliens. They had stopped beaming stuff up, a began firing up their engines. The mothership turned toward the left, and began to accellerate toward Mission Commander.

Not needing another losing battle, he turned the hypersonic spacecraft and accelerated to sonic speed, causing a shattering break of the sound barrier, headed back toward the battle. He suddenly realized he couldn't do that. The mothership was on his tail, they didn't need another mothership involved in the battle.

Mission Commander turned and began heading away from the battle, passing the surprised mothership, heading back past Eagle Command, and continuing.

Further and further.

Mission Commander continued untill he reached the mountains, the mothership hot on his tail, firing blasts at him. He swerved around a pillar of rock, allowing the next blast to crash into it.

He could head back to the battle if he could lose the mothership in these mountains.

He headed deeper, entering a canyon, then an gigantic underground tunnel that he knew led to an extensive cave system that was more than big enough for the huge spaceships. He knew enough about these tunnels that he could probably get the mothership off his tail.

A laser blast wizzed past his ship, crashing into the wall of the tunnel, the tunnel on that side began to collapse, revealing the entrance to a cavern he had never seen before.

He would have liked to have seen what was in there, but there is no time to do that kind of stuff when you have an alien mothership chasing you into barren tunnel on mars. Instead, he launched a probe from the front of the hypersonic spacecraft.

The probe wizzed back behind both the hypersonic spacecraft and the mothership, into the new cavern.

Mission Commander waited a minute, and the information from the camera on the probe flickered on an lcd screen on the dashboard.

At last some good news! The cavern was loaded with crystals like he had never seen before.

Crystals he would never be able to mine for the good of earth if they did not get out of this mess.

He wizzed into a different tunnel, than another, and another the mothership followed easily, showing surprising agility.

Mission Commander twisted and turned the hypersonic spacecraft, swishing in and out of caverns and tunnels at amazing speed. He was glad for the time he had spent exploring these caves since the original alien threat had dissapeared.

Then, he saw the tunnel that led toward the exit. He prayed he had lost the alien mothership as he broke into hyperspeed through the tunnel and shot into the air, spiraling up into the martian atmosphere, higher and higher.

He did a quick scan of the ground below as he came into a steady orbit. The mothership had found its way out, but did not appear to be following him up into the sky. He came back down, the sides of his ship lit up with intense heat with his re-entry into the atmosphrere.

He headed back down further, headed back toward the battle at alpha. He feared it was all over, and that his pointless excursion had doomed them all.

The aliens had gotton what they wanted anyway.

He hadn't been fast enough, even with the fastest ship in the fleet.

As the ground became closer into view, he saw all wasn't lost, but things weren't looking well. Only the armored drilling unit and the trike remained fighting, battling an incresingly large number of alien ships as more and more of them poured into the battle.

Dragon cruisers... infiltrators... strikers... and the mothership at the battle still hadn't been shot down. The appearence of the infiltrators proved that the motherships had already set up an effective hive. More bad news.

He raced to the ground and began shooting the hypersonic spacecraft's laser at several of the strikers that were assaulting the armored drilling unit.

He was immediatly greeted by retalliatory fire by three infiltrators. His engine sputtered and died, and the spacecraft headed for a crash landing on the ground.

Mission Commander managed an impressive landing for a ship without an engine.

The hypersonic spacecraft hit the sand and slid, soil building up in the front as it slowed to a hault.

He exited the cockpit and headed back to investigate what was wrong with engine, limping because of the crash. Smoke poured out of the back of the ship, although their didn't seem to actually be any damage except for a little bit of damage to the hull.

So what was wrong?

He took a close, hard look.

It appeared that the impact from the blasts had knocked the energy crystals out of their holders. Without power power, the engine couldn't run. He turned back. He didn't know where he could get any crystals right then and there except to walk across the massive, deadly battlefield in search of the ones he had lost.

He didn't have much of a choice.

He took his first steps forward slowly, but then ran forward, darting his head back and forth, keeping his eyes peeled for any crystals just lying around, that had no doubt either fallen from his craft, or some other crashed ship. He though about where he had been when the blast that caused his engine to fail had hit.

He saw some crystals glinting on the ground in front of him. He ran forward.

Then he saw it, an astro lying in a fetal position on the ground, his spacesuit torn, blood on the ground.

He ran over, forgetting about the crystals.

It was miner, lying there bloody on the ground. What had happened to him?

Mission Commander looked him over, and felt his pulse. He was still alive, and miraculously, his helmet was not fractured, so he could breathe.

Despite the own limp he acquired during the crash, he picked up Miner, and began walking back toward the hypersonic spacecraft. He stopped to scootch down and pick up the much needed crystals.

Then, his worst fears came true, a striker spotted them there, and changed its course, shooting energy pulses. The pulses struck the ground around them, creating cracks in the dry soil and knocking Mission Commander to the ground.

Miner fell out of Mission Commander's arms as he tried to pull himself up. The striker arced up into the air, spiraling and preparing to coming back for more shots at the two astronauts.

Meanwhile, back at the exit to the tunnel, the mothership hovered there, the aliens trying to determine where the hypersonic spacecraft had gone, planning their next move.

_He has foiled us._


End file.
